Flour Bluff's season-saving play one for the ages

Lot of moving parts went into Bluff's final play

JOHN ALBRIGHT/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES
Flour Bluff receiver Will Mendiola hauled in a huge fourth-and-long pass from Kolton Mims to beat Leander in the region semifinals last week in San Antonio.

John Albright / SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES

JOHN ALBRIGHT/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES
Flour Bluff's Kolton Mims made a mad dash and completed a 4th-and-21 pass to Will Mendiola for a touchdown in the final seconds of last week's region semifinal win over Leander in San Antonio.

John Albright / SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES

CORPUS CHRISTI - Will Mendiola was surprised to walk into a dark room for a Monday morning class, but he sat down with an inkling of what was coming.

Sure enough, cue the projector.

The play or catch — or maybe it will be known eventually around Flour Bluff as The Play or The Catch — was on demand. Classmates viewed Mendiola's last-gasp, fourth-down catch with five seconds left Saturday night that sent the Hornets to the fourth round of the playoffs for the first time in school history.

Mendiola had seen that play on an almost endless loop since late Saturday. He replayed it in his mind before he finally got to sleep at five in the morning. He probably dreamed about it and joked he woke up with his arms outstretched, giving the touchdown signal.

Just in case it really was all a dream, he slapped himself a couple of times when he woke up Sunday and checked Facebook and Twitter. Yeah, that really happened.

He then went on to hudl.com and viewed it over and over again. When he walked into the coaches' film room Monday and saw the play on the screen, he instinctively raised his arms to signal a touchdown.

Who wouldn't do the same?

On the surface, the play seems like a nice cap to a late drive. Quarterback Kolton Mims dropped back, bought a little time by sliding left and let fly with a pass that Mendiola grabbed in the deep right corner of the end zone for a 29-27 Class 4A Division I stunner against Leander at San Antonio's Heroes Stadium. It was a great finish, the biggest play in school history, and it sent the team to the region final for the first time.

But it was more a mad scramble, with Bluff coach Darrell Andrus calling it mass chaos. The Hornets had no timeouts, had just recovered their own fumble on a botched trick play and had the wrong personnel in for a 4th-and-21 call with less than 20 seconds on the clock.

When the play started, the Bluff had two receivers run into each other, double coverage where they expected a single defender and a series of key blocks and moves that allowed Mims just enough time.

But it worked.

Mendiola called his bond with fellow senior Mims something that goes beyond the field. That link seemed to kick in at the right time.

"Kolton is a really great friend of mine," Mendiola said. "We have a special connection. I don't know what it is. I care about him as a person. It was just one of those things, like best-friend telepathy."

Mims set up the play with a weaving 64-yard run after his team took over, down by four with 1:27 left. Two incompletions and the failed reverse followed. That set up a 4th-and-21 with the clock running and the Hornets 27 yards away from the end zone.

Andrus called a trips-right formation — three wideouts to the right — but had personnel, including Gembol, who were in because of the previous play and did not match up with the call. The coach was trying to see if his team recovered the fumble, checked the clock and then made the call.

The clock was counting down on the season. There was no time to switch players.

"It's one of those endings that a coach can take zero credit for," Andrus said. "The kids — just their will to win and play sandlot football. They were smart enough to line up with the wrong personnel on the field."

So Mims dropped into shotgun formation with back Kevin Dewitt as a sidecar on his left. The snap came, and mass chaos began to take form.

It was a shaky start. Gembol, at tight end on the right side, got tangled with slot receiver Reggie Garza a few yards downfield, as Gembol ran a pattern based on one play call and Garza ran another.

But two defenders went with Garza as he cut to the middle of the field. Gembol went up the sideline, temporarily without a player covering him, trailing behind Mendiola.

That bump, however, cleared the area around Mendiola of defenders. He started at the top of the formation near the right sideline with man coverage by Tevin Smith, who was back in the game after enduring an injury or cramps earlier.

The offensive line held its blocks. Right guard Alex Lerma dropped back and delivered a fantastic cut block to take the left end out of the play as he rushed up the field. Leander nose guard Jake Tetreault was double-teamed in the middle. On the left side, senior tackle Aaron Ploeger was dealing with end Jacob Green, who slid around him.

But Dewitt stepped up with a timely block, slowing Green's momentum.

"I was so tired at the end, and you can see that. I'm really glad (Dewitt) was there," Ploeger said. "I'm not sure how long I could have held (Green) off."

Mims, meanwhile, was back in the pocket for about three seconds. Andrew Dilworth, alone at receiver on the left side, was double-covered despite seeing one on one in the same formation for much of the game.

The pocket began to fold. Mims stepped up and almost ran into Tetreault, who lunged for the quarterback. Mims went left and Ploeger ran with him, trying to get to linebacker Leo Quintana, who was acting as a spy. At the same time, the 6-foot-7, 260-pound Ploeger unknowingly shielded Mims from Green, who turned for the quarterback.

"I turn around and see a whole lot of (Leander) blue," Garza said. "And I see Kolton."

Quintana did not go for Mims with Ploeger bearing down but played the run after the Lions were burned by Mims' big play to start the drive.

Mims had bought a few more seconds to scan the field. He knew he could not run for it. But he spotted Mendiola while moving left.

"Pressure was breaking, and it forced me to the outside. That's when I caught Will's eyes and caught him waving," Mims said. "I saw everyone out there. Everyone was in my mind. But the first person to catch my eye and be one on one was going to get it.

"Will was one on one, and he had room. I knew he had the best chance."

Mendiola curled in around the 5-yard line and signaled to Mims.

"If I ran to the back of the end zone, (Smith) would have been there the whole time and Kolton wouldn't have room to throw," Mendiola said. "I figured if he threw over my head, maybe he'll throw it in the end zone, and it won't go out of bounds."

Mims, a right-hander still going left, planted his back foot, turned his body and released the ball from the 31, throwing across the field and hoping for the best. He had no idea he had thrown it perfectly, nearly right into the back corner of the end zone.

Mendiola drifted back toward that deep right corner and briefly glimpsed the out-of-bounds line. Smith got into almost perfect basketball box-out form, fronting Mendiola and staying low with his arms stretched out.

Mims and Ploeger lost sight of Mendiola after the throw. Andrus saw nothing at all, his view blocked. Gembol and Garza had good sightlines — Garza from the side, in the middle of the end zone, Gembol about 10 yards in front of Mendiola.

Earlier in the game, Mendiola had dropped a sure touchdown. His dad sent him a text message telling him good things would happen. It was just part of God's plan.

Mendiola saw that text at halftime and pushed the drop into the past.

He braced for the ball, and Smith never jumped. He made a motion with his left arm but stayed low. Mendiola jumped, as did the district superintendent, Julie Carbajal, who had staked out her favorite position along the Bluff's end-zone sideline.

Mendiola got his hands on the ball, cradled it and fell to the ground on his right side with Smith going to the turf with him.

Mendiola then noticed he had landed inbounds.

He realized right away what had happened. He jumped to his feet. The first person Mendiola saw was Carbajal, and he gave her a high-five.

"He came to me," Carbajal said, "and I said, 'You did it. I'm so proud.' "

Andrus saw a lot of people raising their arms, signaling touchdown. But he and Gembol waited for the referee's call. When his arms went up, they knew they had it.

Gembol was startled at first because many Leander players began looking into the backfield. For a moment, he dreaded seeing a yellow penalty flag.

There was none. Time to celebrate. Gembol was the first teammate to reach Mendiola.

"There was no feeling quite like it," Gembol said. "Once I looked back and saw there was no flag down, I was in celebration mode. Hugged him and told him, 'Good job.' "

Smith stayed down, seated, his hands on the sides of his helmet as Mendiola's teammates raced over. Mendiola handed the ball to an official and was overtaken by his friends.

"I'm a very talkative person. I don't shut up, but I could hardly talk at all. I could hardly breathe," Mendiola said. "To see all my teammates, all my friends I've been playing football with all these years to come up and say 'You made that catch.' And the crowd — it was large and they were going crazy."

He wants to remember the catch and that feeling. If adversity strikes again, Mendiola said, he will have this to know he can rise above it and make the play. He's proud of the catch for another reason — in all his times viewing it, he doesn't push off Smith. He made the play the right way.

Mims wants to move beyond it. Leander's rival, Leander Rouse, now is in the way of a trip to the state semifinals and a region title. There's more history to be made this Saturday night.

A lot of work went into one play, so Mendiola won't take credit for the win. To him, it was just a catch that occurred at the end. A special play, sure, but all the ones leading to that — Kevin Reid's field goal, catches, blocks, tackles on defense and runs and throws by Mims — were winning plays.

His was just the final one.

"It wasn't only that play that won that game," Mendiola said. "If everybody hadn't done their things, we wouldn't have the amount of points we had.

"So it wasn't that I caught the game-winning touchdown. I just caught the last touchdown of the game."